Save Me
by piscesclio
Summary: third season pj
1. Pacey to the rescue

Joey walked down the street in a slow almost depressing fashion. She had expected to see Dawson tonight. When Dawson asked her out Joey had been thrilled. She had gone shopping with Jen and Andie just for the occasion, but Dawson never showed. Maybe he figured it was no big deal, blowing her off. Joey had been waiting at the Icehouse for almost four hours before she finally gave up. Now she felt stupid.  
  
Joey heard a car behind her and prayed it was Dawson and that he had a good excuse for standing her up. And what she meant by good was flawless. Joey turned around to see Matt Caufield and a bunch of his loser buddies laughing and pointing at her. She just turned back around and pretended not to notice them. Unfortunately they didn't make that easy. They pulled their car up next to her and drove just slow enough to keep up with Joey's fast pace.  
  
"Hey Joey!" Matt called, leaning halfway out of the still-moving convertible, which was followed by several wolf whistles and obscene comments.  
  
She tried to ignore them but the more she ignored the more they called until finally she turned to face them. Trying her best to stay calm she asked, "What do you want Matt?"  
  
"Why are you so dressed up? Aww, did you have a date tonight." Joey didn't answer she just rolled her eyes and waited for him to get bored.  
  
"I know you did, Joey. I was there. It was so funny, watching you get so worked up and then heartbroken You even pulled out the water works for Leery. I bet he would be touched."  
  
"As much as this isn't any of your business, those tears weren't for Dawson." Okay, so she lied. Who could blame her?  
  
Out of nowhere Joey felt a strong, muscular arm slip around her waist. He leaned very close to her ear and said, in a voice loud enough to be heard by the other guys, "I'm sorry I couldn't make it tonight baby. Do you forgive me?"  
  
Joey recognized that voice, but she still needed to see it to believe it. Turning around in his arms, Joey's suspicions were confirmed. Pacey. She'd been hoping that it was Dawson. That would have been fine. Pacey on the other hand was. Joey looked him up and down slightly. She certainly couldn't deny that Pacey was attractive. And tonight he was wearing a blue button-down shirt that accentuated his bright blue eyes. In fact, his entire outfit seemed purposefully worn to draw attention to those amazing orbs. Oh, it didn't matter how nice he cleaned up, Pacey was still Pacey.  
  
When Joey realized that she had been staring she decided to go along with it. At least it would get Matt away from her. Joey looked Pacey up and down again in her best sexual manner and said, "Of course not."  
  
Before Pacey had time to react, Joey grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him down for a deep drowning kiss. The second she heard the idiotmobile peel out and fly down the street Joey pushed Pacey away from her.  
  
"What the hell did you think you were doing!" she screamed, still angry at herself for kissing him, and even more irritated for liking it.  
  
"Woah, you kissed me remember?"  
  
Joey glared at him. "I was just playing along. You're the one who started the show!"  
  
"Well, I thought you could use a little help with those guys!" He couldn't believe she was yelling at him. It wasn't like he forced her to swap spit with him. He hadn't even asked her to. Joey started to walk away and Pacey ran to catch up.  
  
"Jo, wait up!"  
  
She stopped, but only because she felt guilt for snapping at him. Not that she would ever admit it. "What Pacey?"  
  
Pacey caught up with her and for the first time that night he really noticed her. Joey had her hair swept up in some elegant way that kept it off her neck and shoulders. The dress she wore was a brilliant red velvet low-cut spaghetti strap that hit just a little above her knees. It had a slit on each side that traveled up her long legs until they stopped at mid- thigh. She was even wearing make-up, and she looked absolutely stunning now that he noticed. Joey always looked amazing but tonight she was absolutely breathtaking.  
  
"I.um." he took a deep breath and tried to regain some composure. "Why are you so dressed up?"  
  
"Well, I had a date with Dawson." She said quietly.  
  
"When you looked like this?" Pacey asked incredulously before he could stop himself and he immediately realized his mistake. "Joey, I didn't mean that the way it came out."  
  
"Then how did you mean it Pacey?" Joey snapped. She'd already felt self- conscience about the dress. Joey had told Bessie it made her look like a hooker.  
  
"I just meant.well.you look.you look beautiful. How did Dawson manage to walk away from you tonight?" Joey blushed from his complement but her face fell at the mention of Dawson's name.  
  
"He didn't walk away. That would imply that he showed up at all." Joey shifted in her two- inch heels. "Pace, if we are going to have some heartfelt friend moment can we please not do it in the middle of the street?" 


	2. Home Videos and Unimportance

The movie they were watching was one full of memories. It was a home video Dawson had shot the summer before freshman year.  
  
"You were so full of yourself, Pace." Joey noted from her place leaning against Pacey's headboard.  
  
They'd found themselves watching old videos of Dawson's that Pacey had somehow confiscated. Somewhere around the end of the first and the beginning of the second movie Joey had traded her dress and heels for one of Pacey's t-shirts and some boxers that had Donald Duck on them. At least now she could be somewhat comfortable while watching her life's humiliations caught on tape.  
  
Pacey rolled his eyes up at her from where his head rested in her lap. "Are you using past tense, Jo?"  
  
"Of course not. I was just making an observation. You have nothing to fear. Pacey, you are still wholeheartedly full of yourself." she said, patting his head.  
  
"Why thank you, Josephine." They turned their attention back to the television but the only thing on the screen was snow. Pacey got off the bed and flipped the T.V. off.  
  
"I still can't believe you stole those from Dawson."  
  
"Borrowed, I borrowed from Dawson. You don't steal from friends." he assured her.  
  
"Well, thanks anyway. If Dawson still had those, our adolescence would never be safe."  
  
"Speaking of Dawson-"  
  
"I'd rather not." she broke in.  
  
Pacey crawled back up on the bed and rested himself against the headboard, next to her. "Speaking of Dawson," he continued, "what do you mean he never showed up?"  
  
"He just didn't show up," she stated. Joey had figured Pacey would have forgotten her earlier comment. In the whole three hours she'd been there it hadn't been mentioned once. She should have guessed Pacey had only been biding his time.  
  
"Are you sure he asked you out?" Pacey asked. Knowing how much Joey wanted to get back with Dawson and how oblivious Dawson could be it wasn't hard for him to understand the two getting their wires crossed.  
  
"Yes, Pacey. I'm sure he asked me out." Joey hissed irritated. "Yesterday he came up to me in the hall and said he wanted to get back together. He said that he wanted to take me some place nice, some place that I needed to dress up. He said that he would meet me at the Icehouse at six. I was there, waiting for four hours before I left. But I guess my suspicions are now confirmed."  
  
The tone in Joey's voice was sad and it made Pacey look at her. "What suspicions, Jo?"  
  
"That I just not important enough." Joey wiped a much-hated tear from her eye. "First my dad and now Dawson. Hell, I even turned a man gay."  
  
Pacey hated seeing her like this. How could she think she wasn't important enough. This girl was his world and she didn't think she was important. Pacey let an idea form in his head. He turned Joey to face him. "Would you be willing to wear that dress again?"  
  
"Huh?" What did her dress have to do with anything?  
  
"The red dress. Would you be willing to put on the dress and heels again tonight."  
  
"Why?" Now Joey was suspicious.  
  
"I can't tell you." Joey raised an eyebrow at him. "I just can't."  
  
Joey walked across the room to where her dress and shoes sat by his desk. Grabbing it and heading towards the bathroom she called, "After I change you are going to explain yourself, Witter." 


	3. smells and electricity

Joey stepped out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later, decked out in her dress and heels, and feeling a little more than uncomfortable. She made a vow to kill Pacey then charged into his room ready to give him a piece of her mind. Pacey wasn't in his room, but lying on his bed was a note with her name on it.

As Joey read the note her eyebrows began to knit together. The only thing written were instructions for her to meet him at a pier they had played at when they were younger.

Was he crazy? It was one in the morning and he wanted her to follow him on some wild goose chase. Joey huffed and made the quick decision not to go, but after a few minutes her curiosity got the better of her and she found herself walking out the Witter's front door.

Walking along the beach, Joey made her way towards the peir. Why was she even bothering to follow him? Pacey probably just had some elaborate joke planned out or something. Then she scolded herself for thinking that. Pacey could be a lot of things but cruel was seldom ever one of them, even to her.

Joey spotted the pier but she didn't see Pacey anywhere. She was about to turn around and leave but she decided to give him a little while, just a minute of two.

Once again Joey felt a strong arm encircle her waist and another one cover her eyes. She would have jumped or screamed but she knew it was Pacey. She could tell by his scent, a uniquely pleasant mixture of the ocean, Old Spice, and well...Pacey. Joey stiffened with the realization that she could identify him by smell alone, but after a moment she just chalked it up to the fact that she had known her her whole life. Yeah, that was it.

Pacey felt Joey's body tense but he didn't remove his arm. He just stood there breathing in the essence that was Joey. Pacey loved her smell, a unique combination of raspberries, and the ocean, and something else that was completely her. When he began to lead her toward their destination he felt her body go even more rigid.

"Relax, Jo. Trust me." he whispered in her ear, hoping that it would calm her nerves a little.

It didn't. Joey shivered when she felt his warm breath hit the back of her neck. She forced her body to relax agaist his and tried to ignore the jolt of elecricity that she felt when their bodies came in contact.

"Pacey, how much longer? I mean, is the eye covering really nessesary?" Joey whined after a minute.

"Yes it is, and you can stop complaining because we're here." He removed his hand and stepped away from her to observe her reaction.


End file.
